Stevenson Men's Lacrosse Upsets #6 York College on the Road

The second game of the season for the Stevenson Men's Lacrosse team this year was against #6 York College.  This game was a gritty matchup, despite the ranking difference, and shows in the box scores.  Heres a more in depth view of the game this past Saturday:

Quarter I

• Dylan Wolf got the York Spartans up to an early 2 goal lead in the first 5 minutes of the game, with Noah Bruno adding an unassisted 3rd goal to the Spartans strong 3 goal lead 8:20 into the game.  
• In the last 5 minutes of the quarter, Stevenson junior Will Smith got the ball rolling on a man up possession with an assist to sophomore Ryan Coleman.  Ryan Coleman went on to give the Mustangs some momentum finally, with an unassisted goal to shorten the Spartan lead by 1.  Then came another man up possession for the Mustangs with another Mustang goal scored by sophomore Cam Leydig, assisted from senior Captain Ethan Christensen.
• The Mustangs went on to take the lead with a goal scored by Ethan Christensen, from the stick of sophomore Connor Nelson.  The Spartans regained their footing and Brendan O'Sullivan answered back to tie the game up at 4.

Quarter II

• The second quarter was a tough, well fought battle by both defenses.  The Mustangs however, used this quarter to shift the momentum of the game.  The Spartans went man down 31/2  minutes into the quarter; the Mustangs had a great day during man up possessions.
• The Mustangs took advantage of this man up, with a goal from Christensen scored by junior Jacob Tatum.  Tatum's stick must've been on fire, because the next time the ball was in hit stick, it also ended up in the back of the net, assisted by sophomore Shane Ford.  Sophomore Josh Brannan closed the scoring for the half with a goal assisted by Will Smith, increasing the Mustangs lead to 7-4.

Quarter III

• The Mustangs started the second half with a man possession of the ball due to having possession of the ball while being man up at halftime.  Christensen took advantage of this early man up possession in the half, and put the Mustangs up by four only 16 seconds into the quarter.
• Jack Michael, the goalkeeper for the Spartans appeared to be frustrated by the Mustang lead, as he decided to run the ball coast to coast for the 5th Spartan goal of the game, and a possible momentum shift.  Jacob Tatum, Michael's kryptonite of the game, took the momentum away from the Spartans with an unassisted goal.
• The Spartans went on a 2 goal run after Tatum's 3rd of the game.  These goals both scored by Spartan Brendan O'Sullivan, as his stick was hot the whole game.  Tatum answered back yet again on a man up possession with his 4th goal of the game with an assist from Will Smith.  

Quarter IV

• The 4th quarter started off with a Mustang lead of 10-7, but was quickly shortened to a 10-9 lead.  These two goals were scored by Dylan Wolf and Sean McQuade, and gave the Spartans momentum, as O'Sullivan tied the game up at 10 with 7 minutes left in this nail-biter.  
• Ryan Coleman had been the momentum for the Mustangs all game, but REALLY showed up here in the 4th, getting an unassisted goal with 3:30 left in the game.  The Mustangs needed to keep this energy up for such a short time, and Cam Leydig helped take some pressure off with a goal assisted by Christensen to make the score 12-10 Mustangs.
• Eric Rank had an unassisted goal in transition for the Spartans with 1:30 left.  It all depended on this next face-off; junior Shiloh Shassian, who was about 50% prior to that face-off, won the biggest face-off of the game to give the Mustangs the ball to kill the last 90 seconds.

Mark Poust, the senior Mustang goalkeeper, had 12 saves, with two of them being in the last 3:30.  He plays a huge role in the defense of the Mustang team.  Tatum scored 4 goals for the second game in a row; meanwhile Coleman scored a career high hat-trick, and Will Smith had a career high 3 assists. 

Stay tuned for this upcoming weekend, as the Stevenson Men's Lacrosse team will play in their home opener on Saturday February 29nd against #10 Gettysburg College at 7:00 p.m. at Mustang Stadium!

Week 1 - #20 Stevenson Men's Lacrosse vs. #19 Ursinus College

The Stevenson Men's Lacrosse Team's season opener this year was against the Men's Lacrosse Team of Ursinus College.  It was a well fought battle by both sides, despite being the first game of the season for both teams.  The final score was 13 for Ursinus, and 12 for the Mustangs.  Heres a game recap.

The First Quarter (of the season)

• The Mustangs went up to an early two goal lead; the first goal being scored by sophomore Josh Brannan, assisted by fellow Dematha alumni sophomore Cam leydig.  The second goal scored by junior Jacob Tatum, and was unassisted.  
• The Ursinus Bears answered right away with a quick goal by Hakan Atillasoy; only to have Stevenson senior Ethan Christensen answer right back with an unassisted goal to make it 3-1 Mustangs.  
• The Bears then went on to score 2 goals, by Joe Mercutio and Hakan Atillasoy.  This scoring run was stopped by Jacob Tatum with a goal assisted from sophomore Ryan Coleman.  The Bears ended the quarter with 2 more goals, scored by Atillasoy again, and Alex Dean.

The Second Quarter

• The score was 5-4 in favor of the Bears going into the second quarter.  The Bears continued their scoring run right off the bat in the second, scoring two goals in about 5 minutes; scored by Ben Minardi and Erik Ojert.  The score was now 7-4, and the Mustangs knew they had to answer back.  
• Fortunately, junior Will Smith was there to bring back the momentum with an unassisted goal.  The Bears got two penalties and went two men down, which was extremely utilized by the Mustangs.  The Mustangs scored 2 big goals here within 30 seconds, which led to a scoreless battle for about 5 minutes before the final 1:30 of the half.  
• The Bears scored two quick goals, from Aaron Grill and Bobby McClure, only to be answered with 30 seconds left in the half by Jacob Tatum.

The Third Quarter

• The score going into the second half was 9-8 in favor of the Bears.  Chase Rondeau started the scoring off with an unassisted goal for the Bears to make it 10-8.  Will Smith got things rolling for the Mustangs again, scoring a goal assisted by Ryan Coleman with 6 minutes to go in the quarter.  
• The Mustangs had the momentum and Jacob Tatum took advantage of that, scoring yet another unassisted goal, his 3rd of the game, and 4th total goal.  Tommy Reinhart got the Bears out of the tie going into the 4th, making it 11-10 in favor of the Bears.

The Fourth Quarter

• Ursinus took advantage of the first penalty called in the fourth quarter on the Mustangs to increase their lead to two.  Stevenson sophomores Josh Brannan and Ryan Coleman, however, worked together to get the Mustangs their 11th goal, and shorten the Bears' lead.  
• Captain Ethan Christensen tied the game up with 2 minutes to go from an assist by Will Smith.  A slash call was made in the last 30 seconds of the game against Stevenson, and Ursinus was able to capitalize on their man up possession to secure the win.

Stay tuned for this upcoming weekend, as the Stevenson Men's Lacrosse team will return to action playing #6 York on Saturday February 22nd at 1:00 p.m. at Kinsley Field in York PA